


fall just to fly

by garbage_can



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, YouTube, Youtuber AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-07-05 05:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garbage_can/pseuds/garbage_can
Summary: Although Tyler has been on YouTube for a couple of years and has uploaded quite a few videos, he's never shown his face to the audience. It was always either covered with a hood or a balaclava, or Tyler wasn’t even in the video, presenting only his voice.--YouTube AU that no one asked for but I wanted to write anyway. Tyler is a smaller YouTuber, posting his songs, covers and random videos. Josh is a bigger YouTuber posting all kinds of shit. Somehow, they cross paths. Also, a lot of Twitter.





	1. have you ever tasted a ray of sun?

**Author's Note:**

> title from going down because i love that song

“Have a nice day,” the barista chirped in a lively voice that matched the awfully bright sun rays finding their way into the coffee shop through the horizontal blinds on the windows.

Tyler only flashed her an awkward smile, grabbed the coffee cup with his named spelled out in messy letters and headed towards the main entrance. He opened the door to a wave of excruciating heat and blinding brightness.

“Like walking into an oven,” he murmured to himself bitterly, taking a sip of his beverage. Nothing better than a steaming cup of coffee on a hot summer day.

It usually didn’t get _this_ hot in the summer, so Tyler could tell this was the last heat wave before the cold winds of fall blow the sun away. Not that he was particularly looking forward to the dark, icy winter, but the heat was getting quite unbearable.

\--

The lock made a familiar clicking noise and Tyler stepped into his apartment, welcomed by the smell of Chinese takeout.

“Tyler? That you?” called his roommate, Mark, from the living room. Tyler could imagine him sprawled out on the couch, not a care in the world. He hummed in confirmation, taking off his shoes and tossing them in the corner, next to where Mark’s were lazily put.

“You wanna do something today?” Mark asked with no real emotion in his voice.

Tyler entered the living room, casually throwing his empty coffee cup in the trash. He stood before Mark, whose eyes were glued to the TV screen. The ceiling fan was on, silently spinning counter clockwise and sending a light breeze of cool air down Tyler’s neck.

“I was actually thinking of maybe recording another cover today, so…” He buried his hands in the pockets of his shorts. Mark didn’t take his eyes off the screen.

“Oh, okay. It’s probably too hot to go anywhere, anyway.”

“That it is.” Tyler eyed the armchair, contemplating maybe sitting down, but deciding against it. “I really hope the temperatures drop soon.”

“The forecast says it should rain on Friday.”

That was the end of their conversation. Tyler quietly crept into his room, softly closing the door behind him. He threw himself on the bed and brought out his phone. He decided to check YouTube first. He wanted to see how his last upload was doing.

Tyler scrolled up and down his uploaded videos. Some of them were his original songs and some were just videos of him talking about random stuff, but it was mostly ukulele and piano covers of all kinds of songs.

His most recent upload, titled _going down (original song)_ had a little over 2 million views which was way more than he expected after just three days of the video being up. While checking his subscriber count – which has also gone up – he wondered where the sudden burst in popularity was coming from.

Yawning, he opened Twitter, expecting to scroll through his timeline for about five minutes and then closing the app. Instead, he was greeted with dozens of notifications of people tweeting at him and mentioning him in their tweets.

 

 **Kiana Parrish** @kianaP4Mo  
josh reacting to @tylerrjoseph in his new video was the best thing that’s happened to me since february. no i’m not ok thank you.

 **Angela** @bowers_bosak  
how long have I been plugging my boy @tylerrjoseph for?? how long??!!!??

 **RJzPERry** @sageme  
Just found out about @tylerrjoseph through @joshuadun ’s new video! Awesome music, will definitely listen to more!

 **ClayMan** @ClayDyer  
evryone needs to chill the fuck out. @joshuadun mentions @tylerrjoseph for 3 seconds and y’all lose your fucking mind

 **Camron Shaw** @camronshaw  
@tylerrjoseph getting the attention he deserves is 2018 mood

 **xyz wilson** @sometimesKyle  
hold up,,, whats goin on? who the fck is @tylerrjoseph ?? is there smth im not getting here??? someone explain

 **ChristyIsDunWithYou** @christy_jimenez0305  
Hey @joshuadun I just wanted to let you know I’ve been a fan of @tylerrjoseph and his music for like a year now. I was so happy when you included his latest song in your new video because I really think his music is something that should reach more people. I love you!!

 **Shirley Wynn** @mears1982  
@joshuadun likes @tylerrjoseph we stan a king who recognizes talent

 

Tyler was confused. Who was @joshuadun? Why was everyone tweeting about him all of the sudden? He recognized a few of his own fans tweeting about this, too.

So he tapped on the unknown @joshuadun username. He was met with a bright blob of strong yellow, narrow almond-shaped eyes and a wide, toothy grin. There was a blue ‘verified’ checkmark next to this person’s name and to be honest, that was _kind of_ a big deal.

Tyler’s eyes travelled lower, passing his username and description, landing on a link that seemed to be this guy’s YouTube channel. Curious, Tyler gently tapped the link which opened the YouTube app on his phone. His eyes widened when he noticed the subscriber count, honestly never expecting someone this popular to be associated with his own channel in that sort of way.

The latest video was titled _Exploring Wonders of YouTube_ and featured the same bright blob with a toothy grin in the thumbnail. Tyler didn’t bother searching for his earphones and simply tapped on the video.

This guy (who apparently was named Josh, assuming from his intro)’s voice filled the room, bouncing off of walls. He had a laughter that radiated sunshine and he was not afraid to let it out.

Tyler watched the video, eyes still slightly widened, quietly waiting for Josh to mention him.

At around 7 minutes into the video, Tyler finally recognized the familiar tones of the beginning of Going Down. His phone was now playing the video Tyler had recorded for that song with a box in the bottom right corner, showing Josh’s reaction. He didn’t show the entire song, but his reaction was fairly positive, questioning only the dark balaclava covering Tyler’s face while he sang.

Although Tyler has been on YouTube for a couple of years and has uploaded quite a few videos, he’s never shown his face to the audience. It was always either covered with a hood or a balaclava, or Tyler wasn’t even in the video, presenting only his voice.

He’s gotten quite a lot of comments questioning this and demanding a ‘face reveal’. Tyler never bothered answering those comments. He did it because he didn’t want his music to be judged by how he looked or what people thought of _him_ , but simply by what his _music_ was. Simple as that.

As the video wrapped up, Josh mentioned that everyone featured will be credited in the description. After opening it and seeing his channel name there, Tyler understood the jump in views and subscribers on his channel.

He wondered if he should tweet about this, maybe welcoming all the new people coming. Then he changed his mind, thinking that perhaps the best thing to do would be to ignore the whole thing and carry on with the content unbothered.

He grabbed his ukulele and set up the camera. His dark balaclava found its way onto his face, covering it almost completely and smoothing out his head. Instead of the cover he had previously meant to record, Tyler decided to talk about his inspirations and music, gently strumming the strings of the ukulele in his lap as he did so. He felt it would give the video a more relaxed and also interesting taste and once he was done recording he was pretty confident he succeeded.

By the time the sun set there was already a new video called _discussing music + ukulele_ on his channel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really want to try and finish this one


	2. so fill me up

Josh walked through the front door of the bar, his friends at his heel. They were laughing and chatting loudly, trying to speak over the deafening music booming from the bass-boosted speakers.

His hands were making nervous, sweaty fists in the pockets of his shorts, as he looked around for a place for them to sit.

“Hey, how ‘bout there?”

He turned around to see Hayley pointing to the booth in the very back corner of the room. Josh gave her a thumbs-up and headed in its direction. They all squeezed on the two short benches, still talking. Josh couldn’t really understand what they were saying, so he stayed quiet, extending his arms on the table in front of him.

Someone brought out their phone and opened Social Blade, quickly typing in Josh’s YouTube channel name. The big, almost frightening numbers showed up and everyone started cheering. They _were_ all here for a reason, after all.

Debby stood up, yelling out that she’s going to get them all drinks. The conversation slowly started to die out, the group mostly head bobbing or singing along to the music. Josh watched the numbers on the phone screen change, going up and down and up again, not even realizing he was tapping his hands on the table to the beat of the song.

“You nervous?” Hayley asked from across the table, following his gaze.

“A bit, I guess,” Josh chuckled back at her.

He _was_ nervous. He was always nervous when it came to things like this. His channel was about to hit a big milestone and there was a feeling of anxiety that came with that every time.

Debby was back with enough drinks for everyone to get drunk twice, earning a loud cheer from the group. They started downing the shots and heading to the dance floor one by one.

Josh stood up too, casually moving his body to the rhythm, an eye glued to the numbers on the phone at all times.

It wasn’t until maybe an hour later, when he finally heard a loud celebration shout from one of his friends, who was holding up the phone high enough for everyone to see. The big numbers were clear, screaming out, but Josh could only stare at them with a stupid grin on his face. The whole group started cheering and some other people in the bar joined in as well, despite having no idea what the celebration was about. Josh was suddenly surrounded by smiles, supportive pats on his back and lots of hugs.

He did it.

\--

Josh came home alone that night, his cheeks still hurting from all the smiling and laughing.

He didn’t drink a lot, knowing all too well how that would affect his work. So, only slightly tipsy, he set up his camera and hopped on the bed.

Grinning, he greeted his viewers and started what would later be a video on YouTube called _Expressing My Sincerest Gratitude for 10 Million Subscribers_.

\--

There was nothing for Tyler to do.

Mark was out with friends, watching a movie (that Tyler was not invited to for the crime of not being there when the plans were made) and probably having the time of his life. Jenna was apparently busy too, given she wasn’t answering any of Tyler’s texts.

So he just stared mindlessly. He stared at the ceiling, into the TV screen, out the window, his old 4-H Camp shirt he was wearing, his phone. He was just playing around on the YouTube app, when he tapped the ‘Trending’ icon and was greeted with a familiar name.

It was that same bright blob of yellow from the day before. That blob of yellow, the almond-shaped eyes and the now closed smile.

The video was over 15 minutes long and while Tyler usually wouldn’t have the attention span to sit there and listen to someone just talk for that long, something about Josh’s smile just made his hand move on its own and open the video.

Tyler expected this to be just another video of a YouTuber thanking his subscribers for all they’ve done for him and telling them he _truly loves_ every single one of them.

But what he was met with was so much more.

Josh spoke carefully, almost like he didn’t know how to put his feelings into words. He talked about his anxiety (he didn’t call it that, but it was fairly obvious to Tyler what he was trying to say) and how making ‘dumb videos on this dumb platform’ really helped his come out of his shell.

Tyler was pretty sure this dude even started tearing up a bit when he described to his audience how his every day is now a bit brighter and how much his life has changed. He went on about how he’s even been able to meet a lot of new people who have also improved his everyday, thanking them as well.

He ended on a motivational note, saying the same old ‘anyone can be anything’, but it sounded so sincere, Tyler’s throat let out a small squeaky voice.

Josh’s outro started playing and Tyler couldn’t _not_ be utterly full of emotion after this genuine expression of someone’s feelings. He had to get it out somehow so he almost ran to his room, completely inspired.

There was a song he’s wanted to cover for a while now, but never fully learned. It was called _Build_ (or was it Fill?) _Me Up Buttercup_ by The Foundations and rushing on passion, Tyler wasn’t even sure he remembered all the lyrics. But it didn’t matter, he turned on the camera as fast as he could, positioning it so only his torso was visible, the main focus his hands strumming the ukulele’s strings.

\--

You wouldn’t believe with what speed Tyler edited the short cover and posted it on his channel. Even the internet was working in his favor, the video uploading faster than ever before.

\--

 **oh my doug**  
you can hear the smile in his voice srsly how cute is this

 **Cheeriosos**  
ty wearing a 4-h shirt tho

 **Victoria Batz**  
This was so soft and wholesome who else wants to hug him

 **thirty pebbles 30**  
you don’t under s t a n d  i’m c r y i n g this is so P U R E

 **peaches &cream**  
2:43 was the worst part, absolutely terrible, how dare you end this heavenly video, unsubscribed

 **Christy Jimenez**  
All of my favorite creators uploading on the same day?! Today is truly blessed.

 **Angela Bosak**  
even satan himself would smile throughout the entirety of this video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /sigh/


	3. my frame shrinks smaller as night grows near

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to warn you i usually write these things very slowly, especially when there's schoolwork to be done and new shows to be binged

_Glistening white teeth in the moonlight, the heart-stopping thuds of strong legs on the forest floor, the loud panting behind him._

_Tyler was running as fast as he could, honestly wondering how he hadn’t already tripped and fell with how clumsily his feet were hitting the ground. It took all of his willpower to not just look over his shoulder at whatever beast was chasing him._

_A quick jump over a high-standing root and he was back to running. His legs began to ache but he just couldn’t stop. Knew he shouldn’t._

_What was chasing him? Why? Why was he running in a forest in the first place?_

_And then, out of nowhere, Tyler couldn’t see the ground ahead of him anymore. It was as if someone just sliced it off. A cliff?_

_He stopped in his tracks, almost tumbling down into the dark abyss the cliff seemed to welcome. Tyler had no choice but to turn around and face whatever has been hurrying after him all this time._

_Only, he couldn’t hear it anymore. He could have sworn he heard the obnoxiously frightening panting behind him just a second ago. His eyes searched for something, anything, in the dark bushes, between the tall trees._

_And then suddenly, right next to his right ear, he felt a warm breath-_

Next thing he knew, Tyler was sitting in his bed, shirt drenched with sweat. He was breathing in, but his lungs just couldn’t get enough oxygen. His hand was clasping his chest as he tried to calm down.

It wasn’t really unusual for Tyler to get nightmares, but they seldom got this kind of reaction out of him.

Tyler exhaled. His breathing was steady and the ringing in his ears was beginning to die out. He could hear Mark in the kitchen, fumbling with kitchenware and singing to the tune of I Want It That Way. Tyler contemplated just throwing himself back on the pillow and staying in bed for the whole day. He didn’t have to be anywhere that day, anyway.

The rational part of his brain somehow moved his legs and suddenly Tyler was standing up, stretching his limbs and yawning widely. He peeled off the sweaty shirt and grabbed the first clean one he could find.

Before even exiting the room, he chuckled weakly. “What on earth are you doing in the kitchen? Do you even know how to hold a knife?”

Mark turned around where he was standing in front of the stove and made an offended face.

“I’ll have you know that I eat stake sometimes.”

That earned a grin from Tyler, who stepped next to Mark, peeping over his shoulder to see what he was doing.

“Just try not to burn the building down.”

“You sure are funny this morning. Might want to dial it down a notch with the insults, though. Or I’ll just eat all of this delicious breakfast by myself,” Mark raised his eyebrows as he poked the scrambled eggs with a spatula.

“Wha- You made this for _me_?” Tyler’s mouth gaped open, still a bit dazed from his nighttime adventure, now completely taken aback by his roommate’s surprising gesture.

“I made this for myself and you, if you want. I had to test out my cooking skills for tonight.”

“Tonight? What’s tonight?”

Tyler stopped in his tracks on his way to pick up a piece of eggs, his hand now awkwardly hovering above the frying pan. He could feel the piercing stare on the back of his head.

“You’re kidding me, right? I told you about this at least a week ago.”

“Oh, is this about that big date you finally got after four months?”

“Yes, and do you remember what I asked you?”

Tyler didn’t remember. He could barely remember what year they were in.

“I _asked_ you if you could maybe let me have the apartment for tonight. And you said that it was no problem. Tyler, please tell me you can let me have the apartment for tonight?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Tyler smiled and finally popped a piece of the scrambled eggs into his mouth.

“Could use a little salt.”

\--

It really was no problem. Tyler could find something to do for one evening, right?

Only Jenna wasn’t answering, _again_ , Chris was at his parents’ for the weekend and Mike had to take care of his crazy sick cat that Tyler did _not_ want to meet again, especially if it was sick _._

So he decided he’ll hang out in the apartment until around 6 pm. He’ll just head out and see if anything comes to him.

It was Saturday, but Mark still had to go to work for a couple of hours. Tyler didn’t really have a job. Well, he _technically_ did. Aside from the YouTube thing he worked in a small convenience store down the street, where he knew the manager. He didn’t work there full-time, but he was the first person the manager contacted when they needed someone to come in.

Truth is, he didn’t really need that much money for him to get a job. Tyler never considered his YouTube career _a job_ , per se, but it did make him enough money to live normally. His apartment was payed off and with not owning a car he didn’t feel like there were many costs other than the weekly grocery shopping.

Tyler sat around all day, occasionally scribbling down some ideas in his notepad. He played around with a piano cord combination he’s been working on and watched some good old daytime television. Before he knew it, it was 6 o’clock and he got a frantic text from Mark.

_look dude i really dont wanna kick you out or anythng but were on our way there and i dont want it to be awkward or anything you get ir right??_

Tyler hurried out the door, grabbing his jacket and his notepad on the way.

_yeah dude i’m already out don’t sweat it_

\--

Josh had a bad memory.

He was one of those people you could introduce yourself to and they’d forget your name in the next five minutes. It wasn’t because he wasn’t listening or he didn’t care, it really wasn’t. He just had a very bad memory when it came to things like that.

And with a memory like that, it wasn’t shocking when he found his brows furrowing in confusion at a recommendation on his YouTube homepage.

His homepage was usually filled with all kinds of music videos or videos from his YouTube friends. But suddenly, there was a thumbnail featuring a male’s torso. The person’s hands – very nice-looking hands, if Josh could say so himself – were holding a ukulele, long fingers holding down the strings, truly looking like they belonged there.

He decided to watch the video and quickly recognized the familiar tune of the song Build Me Up Buttercup, but that wasn’t the only thing he recognized. That voice, that beautiful, angelic voice. He knew he’s heard it somewhere else before. Josh swallowed, watching the person’s prominent Adam’s apple bob as the lovely sound of angels singing and the strum of ukulele filled his ears.

Josh exhaled as the video slowly ended and, still slightly dazed, he clicked the _subscribe_ button, watching it turn from red to light gray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember peeps: whenever you don't know how to start writing, just shit out one of them good ol' dream sessions (:
> 
> also, josh's yt homepage not being filled up with slime, top 10 lists and dumb clickbait hacks/pranks is the most unrealistic thing


	4. why won't you speak?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so after 8 months or so i decided i want to continue this. so i will.
> 
> this might be the only thing i will ever finish lmao. i don't even care if it takes me 5, 10 or 50 years --- i will finish this!! a promise, to myself. very cool
> 
>    
> ((does anyone still use this site btw?? it seems kinda dead but i guess it thrived around 2013-2017 hah -- no offense pls))
> 
>  
> 
> alright here it goes

The birds were chirping in the distance. The wind quietly rustled the tree branches, sending red and yellow leaves towards the ground in a playful dance. Despite the natural forest sounds, it had felt so quiet, like the trees themselves somehow swallowed all the noise. There weren’t many people around, most hikers sticking to the marked paths, not wanting to get lost in the thick woods. Come to think of it, there weren’t many animals around either. Now and then a mouse would run across the forest ground, a squirrel would hop from one treetop to another, or a bird would flutter from its nest. In the evening hours the sun barely even broke through the high trees, only partially illuminating the forest floor. Somewhere, far in the distance, a branch snapped in half.

Tyler loved it so much.

He always felt so alone and isolated in the forest, so vulnerable. Yet he was safe. He could sit there for hours, forgetting all about the real world and Mark and Jenna and his parents and everything. It was just him and the trees. No one could see him there; he was invisible, protected by a cloak of layers upon layers of thick wood and leaves. No one could see him kicking the dry brown leaves around, or beating a stick against a tree trunk in an almost angry manner.

He would often come here, to this exact spot, to write his songs, or even just to try to come up with new video ideas. Whenever he felt like he was going to burn out, he’d visit his special spot and stay there until he thought of something. This little habit started when he was a mere teenager, coming to the lone woods to express his anger and disappointment with the world out loud. It used to upset his parents, because he’d often stay out there for hours upon hours, sometimes even spending the night without so much as a phone call to confirm he’s still alive and safe.

It was slowly getting dark and the complete lack of sunshine sent cold waves down Tyler’s bare arms. He put on the jacket he had fortunately remembered to bring and sat down on a thick tree branch, which was hanging just low enough that climbing on it was safe. Bringing out his worn out notebook and opening it somewhere in the middle, Tyler stared at its pages. His gaze pranced around the scribbles and doodles, all his own creations that came to be in this very part of the woods. He dug his phone from the pocket of his jeans and shined its flashlight on the damaged pages. He flipped through the notepad up to the very last page with anything written on it. It was his latest work in progress, a poem or a song, and he didn’t know what to call it yet.

Tyler could hear the person approaching before he could see them. It was too dark for that anyway, and his phone flashlight only shed light on a small circle around the spot where he was sitting.

“Hey, um, you’re not like, a stoned hobo out here to kill me, are you?” he heard the person shout out. It was a male voice, a bit raspy. It surprised Tyler slightly, but he knew there was nothing to be scared of. If someone wanted to harm him, they would have done so without shouting to alert their presence. The newcomer stayed at a safe distance, cautious.

Tyler squinted his eyes, seeing only a bright white spot of light where the voice seemed to come from, too bright for him to look at directly. “Are _you_?”

The person chuckled nervously. “I asked first.”

Tyler heard a rustle of dry leaves and the white light began to bop up and down. He assumed the guy was coming closer.

“I, uh, I’m a bit lost. Do you maybe know the way out of this hellhole?”

“I do.”

“Mind showing me, then?” The guy’s nervousness was shifting into annoyance.

“Turn your flashlight off.”

“Huh? Why?”

“So I can be sure you’re not a murderer out to slaughter me,” Tyler joked, mocking the stranger for his panicky behavior.

The man chuckled a bit again, too anxious to get the nature of the joke. “And you can tell that by looking at my face?”

Tyler didn’t say anything. The bright white light lowered a bit, then disappeared. Tyler shined his own flashlight in the stranger’s face. He gulped. It couldn’t be… could it?

The familiar vibrant yellow hair and the (now squinting) almond eyes, accompanied by a raised hand to shield from Tyler’s bright flashlight. No, Tyler must be imagining things. It’s late, the lighting is way too bright, and he’s been thinking about this guy for almost a week.

Tyler cleared his throat, barely squeezing out words. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Josh. What’s yours?”

Josh. Joshua. Joshua Dun. Tyler’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t say anything, his mind racing in a blur.

“Hey, you okay?” Josh stepped closer. He was now only around three feet away from Tyler.

“Y-yeah, hi, I’m Tyler.”

Tyler reached down and stuck out his hand, the only thing his frozen brain could think of. Josh took it and gave it a firm shake.

“What on earth are you doing out here so late, man? You _are_ a stoned hobo, aren’t you?” Josh’s tight posture relaxed a bit, his shoulders dropping down slightly.

“I just… come here when I don’t know where to go, I guess,” Tyler suddenly felt relaxed, as well. Why did he feel relaxed? This is a situation made for panic. “I’m also not a hobo.”

“There’s no signal here, too.” Josh turned his phone towards Tyler. No bars.

“The trees are pretty tall. What are _you_ doing here? You’re obviously not very familiar with this place.”

“Oh, I was, uh…” Josh started, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his head, looking almost embarrassed. “I was filming a vlog and lost track of time. Also, got lost. Completely. I’ve been trying to find the way out for like, an hour.”

Tyler almost rolled his eyes. What was he expecting?

“On second thought, I think I’ll just stay here for a little longer. You can go and try to find the road yourself, if you want,” Tyler smirked mockfully.

“Oh, come on!”

Josh’s half-moan made Tyler want to reach down his own mouth and pull out his lungs. Like, in a good way. “I’m so fucking lost man, if you don’t help me I’m literally gonna be stuck here forever. I’ll die of starvation. I’ll freeze to death. I’ll get eaten by rats. I’m weak, please help me?”

Josh’s hands came up to his chest in a pleading manner.

Tyler smiled to himself. “Yeah, you vlogging like an idiot doesn’t really convince me you’re of an advanced species.”

“What’s wrong with vlogging?”

Tyler shrugged and shook his head, a smile still tugging on his lips. “Nothing, man.”

“Hey, you can say what you want, but a lot of people enjoy it, you know?”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah. Millions.”

“Hey, why are you wearing shorts?” Tyler suddenly changed the topic, glancing at Josh’s bare calves. Josh dropped his head, looking it that direction as well. His puffy hair bounced with the movement.

“I don’t know? It was warm when I went out? I wasn’t really expecting getting lost in a dark murder forest in the middle of night now, was I?”

“Okay, no need to get sassy with me, I’m just asking,” Tyler chuckled at Josh’s defensive tone.

Tyler carefully hopped off the thick branch, stuffing his notebook deep into his pocket, and walked past Josh. “Follow me.”

“So, you come here often?” Josh asked, racing to catch Tyler’s fast pace and sounding relieved.

“Yeah, that’s what I just said three minutes ago.”

Tyler was angry. Just a little. His spot was so special to him, it was one place he could always trust to shelter him, hide him from the world. And it’s not like Josh would start coming there every day, but now that someone else has stood in his sacred place, Tyler felt like it has lost its meaning. What was the point of a personal utopia if someone else knew about it and corrupted it with the bitter taste of reality?

“Now that I think about it, your voice sounds kind of familiar.”

Tyler had to fight really hard to keep his feet moving. A heavy darkness tugged at his chest and sent the feeling of terror down to his gut. Right. Josh watched at least one of his videos. “Are you like a voice actor or something?”

Tyler took a deep breath. “Nah.”

Okay, okay, maybe he won’t recognize his voice. _Or maybe he will._

He couldn’t handle the embarrassment. He’s never revealed his identity to anyone who would actually _care_. Mark didn’t give a shit and his parents barely even knew he was still into music. Jenna found out on her own, which means it’s possible so _fuck, what if Josh does, too_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was a bit longer than i intended. i usually try to keep my chapters around 1000 words, which this isn'tttttt but it's chill no worries
> 
> (also i'm kiiiinda drunk maybe this isn't the best idea i've ever had)


End file.
